This is what my darling daughter achieved when she sprayed her magic potion on our new patio. Yes, that’s a lovely stain created by the extra-special-oh-so-magical ingredient, baby oil. The patch in the top right (and the line leading to it), and another line out of picture, complete the effect. We’re currently on Plan C for trying to remove the stain. You can bet this will be replayed on her wedding day!

Laurie: tell me what’s in it? Pure acetone (large bottles from Sally’s or the hardware store) is good at dissolving oils and other organics. Just be wary of any plants you don’t want to poison.

Anonymous

Have you ever thought of the damage to the environment? It’s people like you who are poisoning our ecosystem. Do you bury your used motor oil as well? Of course you do. It came from the ground, so it’s ok to go back into the ground. Idiot.

http://twitter.com/Trishluvsdolfin Trish Schroeder

I was going to suggest Dawn dish soap. Get a good stiff brush and scrub. If that doesn’t work, try going to the hardware store and asking their grout/tile department.

Anonymous

Try concentrated Simple Green. It got motor oil off my drive way.

Kris Kringle

I’d just brush the entire patio with baby oil 😀 It would match and likely be a lot easier than trying to remove it.

http://twitter.com/Momfever Nicole Orriëns

Oh no! And she’s ten you say? Well that’s old enough to scrub the stain off herself.

Hand sanitizer tons of it and a really good brush. Worst case scenario you can have the patio sand blasted and it will come off guaranteed.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1149498211 Allyson Seibert

Try baby powder! It might soak up the oil! I know it take oil out of clothing!

http://pudgybudgie.livejournal.com/ Lola

Try kitty litter or some of that motor oil absorber stuff.

http://twitter.com/Cathey304 Cathey Foley

muratic acid. Its for cleaning concrete.

http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Thomson/666319318 John Thomson

What about just flipping the stones?

Anonymous

I use to do stamped concrete for a living, and you need to put lemon juice on it to break up the oil and then very carefully apply muratic acid following the instructions, then rinse with baking soda to neutralize the acid. be careful not to rinse it in to the grass. you can suck up the neutralized acid as you rinse with a shop vac to avoid burning the grass. Good luck!!!!

Brian and Melinda Lubbers

her allowance better be helping pay for the damage and she better be on her hands and knees helping to clean this mess up.

Lyta Hopeflame

I’m 13 myself and it’s people who treat their kids like that when they make the smallest little mistakes who are the ones responsible for the all the bitter, estranged teenagers in our world who leave home at 16 and do their best never to speak to their parents again.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002142392427 Hola Hula

Hey kid, it’s spoiled teenagers like yourself who thinks the world revolves around them. Get over yourself, you entitled, self-centered brat. If you were my kid, you’d be cleaning up your messes all the time. The world does NOT revolve around YOU.

http://www.facebook.com/julie.palm Julie Slapyawitmah Palm

So, if someone old enough to know better wrecked some thing valuable of yours that you had to work hard to afford, you’d be A-OK with it?

This isn’t “the smallest little mistake,” this is very expensive property damage, and the brat responsible deserves to deal with it.

Go show your parents this picture. Ask them about how much it costs to build a patio like that. Ask them how much damage to the patio depreciates the property value.

If you do that, you might be a little closer to growing up.

http://www.facebook.com/kelley.reno Kelley M Reno

My 9 year old stepson emptied 3 brand new (and fairly expensive) bottles of shampoo and body wash into the bathtub to make “potion” like in Harry Potter. Just when you think they are old enough to know better, they surprise you!

Anonymous

Maybe Dawn soap? Gets oil off of wildlife! Good luck!

Kimberly Small

Magic Erasers!!!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=12405655 Danielle Pierce

You could try scrubbing it w/ baking soda or corn starch to absorb the oil? But if all else fails, try a warm water power wash. If you don’t have a power washer you can rent them from Home Depot and stuff. I’d try dumping a few buckets of nearly boiling water on it first to see if that pulls the oil on top of the hot water, then try power washing it. Best of luck!

Anonymous

Try “painting” the entire patio with baby oil. It’ll work on shirts when you’re ready to give up on it otherwise.

Anonymous

Good idea. Let’s pour oil all over Louisiana so it matches the BP oil spill. There. It’s fixed now.

Anonymous

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Our first plan (after sending her out with a scrub brush and detergent) was leaving cornstarch on overnight and then powerwashing it off. Then we tried Dawn Professional Grade Degreaser. Then I contacted the guy who installed it and he suggested CLR Grease Magnet. We can’t flip the stones because they’re flat on the bottom. I found out that it was straight baby oil, not a mixed potion like she first said. Something must be finally breaking it up, as it does seem to be fading gradually in the lighter spots anyway. We’re going to repeat the CLR treatment a few times. Worse case we do have a few extra stones, plus a few under a now-enclosed back landing, that we could exchange for the worst affected ones.

http://twitter.com/cmoewes Chris Moewes

How about flipping the stones that are messed up over. The stains are only on the top and they look to be all symetrical

http://www.facebook.com/Mishmim Michelle Lowe

Fairy liquid dish detergent. It cleans up diesel well also. Pure heavt duty grease cutting detergent directly on and scrub in a bit. Use very hot/boiling water and repeat if necessary.

http://twitter.com/cmoewes Chris Moewes

How about flipping the stones that are messed up over. The stains are only on the top and they look to be all symetrical

http://www.facebook.com/people/Wendy-Murray/1034923611 Wendy Murray

just cover everything with oil, seriously it’s your only hope

Anonymous

Update from Laurie – I guess baby oil has some majorly different properties from other types of oil – the stain has almost completely faded/evaporated away. We didn’t treat the entire area, just tested different products on a few spots, so can’t credit any one product. Just plain luck I guess!

http://www.facebook.com/mhoffmanwilliams Michelle Hoffman-Williams

I feel your pain. My girls still do crazy stuff like this and they are now 8&9!

Beth Craig

gallon of HOT water with a big squirt of dish soap and 2 heaping scoops of OxiClean… it works… worked on my wood floors.

Anonymous

You’re apparently using unsealed concrete tiles. Those tiles will soak up ANYTHING, including grease from the grill I see in the photo. They are literally impossible to keep clean. If you use concrete tile in this way you MUST seal the individual tiles or they will soak up random crap. Your patio would have looked like this in 6 months regardless of what your daughter did.

Basically, don’t use concrete tiles. Use granite (or other hard stone) tiles. They are more expensive for a reason. At this point, since you’re already stuck with the concrete, look into using something like DryLok Concrete Sealer to protect the concrete. You’ll have to apply it yearly.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1612600241 Peggy Pike

Have you tried automotive spill soak up stuff (it a granular thing)

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1211226959 Sharon Benitez

Dawn dish soap or a soap for poison oak…both very good at removing oil.

Ron Goodrich

Baby oil the rest of it.

Jane Smith

Yeah, this definitely falls into the “old enough to know better” camp. Maybe if she starts scrubbing now, she can fix it before she has to leave home for college.